On Thursday 12 August 2004 17:25, Gilad Ben-Yossef wrote:
> Beni Cherniavsky wrote:
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >> For those of you who adored the song Gilad played while
> >> we all waited for the lists of penguine types at the trivia
> >> contest - here are the lyrics.
> >>
> >> http://www.nerve.com/screeningroom/tv/avenueq/
> >
> > I'd like to use this opportunity to express my feelings about that song.
> > I felt it was ugly and entirely out of place in AP. The event represents
> > the people that came to it. I came to an event about FOSS, proud to be
> > part of this comunity - but when that song was played, I felt ashamed of
> > my presence in the hall. I have strong views against porn; I'm not
> > trying to force them upon others but the performance of that song
> > sort-of forced others' views on me. It felt a bit like being forced to
> > read spam.
> >
> > I guess I'm over-reacting to something that was intended as a joke.
> > I just wanted to say it was a bad joke.
>
> "Those that can, do. Those that can't, complain".
> -- *Linus Torvalds (2004)*
>
Hi Gilad!
Well, despite this sentence, I believe Beni's criticism is appropriate here.
(and you can judge by my homepage whether I fall into the category of those
who do or those who complain). Bringing a song with such a sensitive topic is
not "wrong" or illegal, but was out of the place in a public "U-rated" event
like August Penguin. Many people could have felt uncomfortable with it, as
funny and as entertaining as the song was. (caveat emptor - I did not attend
the geek trivia).
One should have some control measures in these kind of choices. A note about
pornography: I have nothing against it. Every adult man or woman has the
right to expose his or her body. And artists may freely depict pornographic
scenes in their artwork. Some of the greatest paintings were pornographic.
However, it is still a delicate subject, and the audience would better be
saved from this. Keep it in mind for next time. You could have played "Two
Point Six" by Austin Acton, or "Linux that swing" by the Exceptions, both of
which have a Linux connection and both of them non-pornographic.
Furthermore, I happen to know Beni - he's a very nice guy, and also happened
to graduate from the Technion, Summa Cum Laude in Electrical Engineering. I'm
not familar with any work he's done open-source-wise, but I know he is very
knowledgable about Python, and otherwise friendly and helpful. I'm sure he
doesn't belong to the "complaining" category either.
Note that this was constructive criticism. It's OK to make a mistake like that
once, but please don't repeat it.
Regards,
Shlomi Fish
--
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Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Homepage: http://shlomif.il.eu.org/
Knuth is not God! It took him two days to build the Roman Empire.
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